TV ratings can be a bit misleading…Buffalo is the smallest market among U.S based teams and Pittsburgh is also one of the smallest. If a team does a 6.6 like Buffalo does, how many people are watching? Now go to a larger market like Detroit or Boston where the rating number may not have been as high but there is a good chance that more people are probably watching.

that NJ rating is a bit surprising to me. i know they’re going to be low rated sitting behind the Rangers, but i wonder if there were less viewers this year without Doc Emrick on the majority of the telecasts (having left for NBC full time). in the back of my mind, i also wonder if the Devils would do better ratings-wise if they weren’t on a network owned by a competetor (MSG owns the Rangers, the MSG arena, MSG Network, and MSG Plus, and with it, TV rights to the Rangers, Devils, and Islanders in the same market).